So let's start with Paris, I must have mentioned this a zillion times but in case you forgot, this was my first international trip :) So it goes without saying, I WAS EXCITED!! And this was the volume I was talking in while we were landing, and was scolded ( By the never excited about anything husband.. Ooh I've been "to foreign" before it's no big deal for me.. Huh!) Anyway, that's how the trip officially started and now we were all off the plane and all looking for the one man who was going to be the most important man for the entire 10 days: Eric Patel, Sid and I thought it could be short for Ericeshwar :P 'cz he really didn't look like an Eknath to me :D. In case you're wondering (I know you're not) turns out, there were no English short forms, that's what his name was and he was a Parsi and not a Gujju as the surname suggested. I know not the most important detail anyone would want right now.
The funniest thing happened at the airport, we spent two hours searching for our bus. No.. the airport was not that big, in fact to my surprise it's way smaller than our Delhi airport and a lot less fancy as well. We spent this much time because our bus waited for us at departure, while we waited for at, of course Arrivals. He wasn't the most intelligent person, but it's alright honest mistake. Finally after shuttling up and down, back and forth we finally were able to find the bus and it was in the bus for the first time we actually registered the faces of our travelling companions, they could be easily divided into two groups:
1. The "Honeymoon" Couples : This included us and half of the group (Mind you, we were the oldest newly married there, that's what happens when you take studying too seriously :P)
2. The Parents of Honeymoon Couples (Probably on some other guided tour): Ha Ha! No seriously! The other half comprised of elderly couples who seemed to have completed all their social responsibilities and had finally come on vacation.
And there was also a group of middle aged men who sadly did not classify as any of the above, and I frankly have no idea how they even thought that a guided trip could ever emulate the "Euro Trip" theme!
By the time we reached it was already too late to do anything so we had dinner and we were dropped at the hotel, which was in the middle of practically nowhere. Well.. no not exactly, it was right next to the airport, but then that's where we came from why would we want to go there again? The hotel though in a desolate area, was extremely comfortable and I instantly started having a good feeling about the trip.
Morning after was the day we "did Paris"!! First stop: Arc de Triomphe, for whoever who's been there knows this is a war memorial monument built by Napolean. This looks very similar to our very own "India Gate" except that I couldn't locate Amar Jawan Jyoti anywhere. Where is stands it's the center for 12 streets. It stands in the very heart of the most busy intersection in Paris, it is said that no insurance is valid at this intersection. So basically if I met with an accident in front of the Arc, I'll have to foot the bill on my own. But trust me, French traffic is not even half as brutal as Delhi traffic, so as long as you've crossed a street anywhere here you'll do marvelously well there. When the guide was giving us this bit of info I was reminded of Bill Bryson's "Neither Here Nor There" which is essentially a travelogue on Europe. The guy has an exaggerated sense of humor and he had also mentioned the same thing and a lot more, it's a good read though. At this point, it's important that I tell you we were given 5 minutes (Yes.. 5. No I'm not kidding) to click photographs of the monument and the entire history was told to us in the "Coach" to save on time. And yes, this would be the modus operandi of the entire trip (This was learnt later :P). Even so, This was my first real taste of Paris and I liked what I saw, of the 12 streets that lead up to the Arc was the very famous and very expensive Champs Elysees, which had almost all the high end fashion stores I'm aware of and even more of the ones which I'm not!! 5 minutes is not a lot of time to absorb all that was infront of me, but then almost everywhere we went thenceforth was one of the 12 streets and just a peep to the right of any street showed me the marvelous intersection. So that you know what I'm referring to, here's an original pic, the girl with the dazzling smile is of course me :D
We then moved on to the city tour, I was really amazed to see how the Parisians have so seamlessly infused the old and new. The banks of the river Seine hold so much history, every bridge looks onto something magnificent. The medieval architecture just blows you over! What blew me over even more was the very cleverly integrated new buildings which had retained the same architecture yet being modern in every functional way. The beauty of the central part of Paris is this: Anywhere you look, from the corner of your eye you can see the Eiffel Tower peeking at you! And if somehow you manage to block it from your view, there would be these street vendors trying to sell miniatures to you! There's no escaping the metal structure while you're in Paris!
And finally post the Bus tour around the city, which also included looking at the entrance of the Louvre, who have sadly now inverted the glass pyramid and redone the whole look and it now looks more of a mall entry than a Museum (Yes, only the entry. You know this is a guided tour right? Who has the time for Museums!!) we made way for the star of the city, The Eiffel Tower. The whole structure is so over whelming, you at first don't know what to make of it. It obviously has no functional purpose, but it still is the most visited paid monument in Paris. And rightly so. The engineering is beyond fantastic, the way we get up to the deck is via lifts at the base of each of the four legs, which move diagonally upwards. This was the first time I even saw this direction was possible! And once we reached the top the breath taking view explained to me where the French get their romance from. The river, the Notre Dame, the beautiful Palace of Versailles, Hotel de Invalides and the new city somewhere in the horizon. It was a 360 degree view which did make me a little dizzy for a bit!
But even better than the Eiffel Tower in warm sun is the Eiffel Tower glowing at night. It looks beautiful as it is with a thousand light bulbs illuminating the structure, but at every hour strike for 5 minutes a marvelous thing happens: It starts twinkling! Yeah! And it's the most beautiful thing! And how we got to see it was also amazing. So seeing the Eiffel tower at night wasn't exactly in the tour itinerary, but I was hell bent on doing so. So after the dinner was done, I noticed one of the other "Honeymoon Couples" asking Mr. Eric what more could be done in Paris at night. And took this cue and jumped right into the plan. The best thing we ever did! So while we were on our way to the Eiffel Tower after exploring Champs Elysees again from the corner peeked at us the Tower twinkling in all it's might! I'm not kidding when I say this, I had never seen anything like it till date (Of course as the journey progressed more and more awesome things took its place, but at that time it was the epitome of beauty) We rushed and made way to Trocedero, which is a sort of the lookout Point for the Eiffel tower. But when we got there the show was over! We were disappointed. We asked around and got to know that it happens at every hour strike. The decision to stay was fairly simple to make. And as if to help us pass the time, a group of dancers started waltzing in front of us, that was an amazing coincidence that made the wait worth it. And when the hour struck, Oh man! It was such a marvel! For the first minute atleast.. then it gets kind of repetitive and you know I have a short attention span, but it was good fun till it held my attention :D Again, why keep you in the dark, below is he video of what I'm talking about. (And please ignore the voices in the background, We didn't intend this video to go public)
In case the video doesn't play, we also took some photographs!! But this one doesn't bring out the twinkle :(
Another small adventure was finding a cab, at the dead of the night. With no one else but the four of us to guide ourselves and the hotel a good hour away, we had really lost hope of getting anywhere. But thanks to cabs fitted with GPS we did find someone brave enough to drive us all the way to the desolate place where the rest of the party was housed. Everything said and done, this Evening in Paris was worth not forgetting!!
Oh Paris, you left me wanting. Just one day was not enough to do you justice. There were so many places that I wanted to visit and spend time at: top of the list, Louvre. It was a shame I could not say my hullo to Monalisa. Quasimodo's spirit at the Notre Dame would have also taken offence. Mary Antoinette would have not appreciated that I didn't get to see how fabulously she lived in the Palace of Versailles(And yet, I did see where she most brutally died). Before leaving I have made a promise to be back and finish all that was left pending and a little more!
Next Stop: Switzerland!
